Waiting in the Wings
by Shealtiel
Summary: Bursting through her dressing room door fiercely brought her suddenly into what could have been a very extensive rose garden. "I love you so much. Be amazing." She could hear the smile in his voice. Rated for kissing and very mild language. Oneshot.


Waiting in the Wings  
by Shealtiel  
Rated: K+ for kissing and very mild language.  
Summary: Bursting through her dressing room door fiercely brought her suddenly into what could have been a very extensive rose garden. "I love you so much. Be amazing." She could hear the smile in his voice.

**A/N: Hello everyone. Just a short oneshot that sort of came to me in the middle of a school day. Thought I'd finish it and post it on here, for fun. Just thought that Mary and Joey probably come across little problems in their relationship like this one. Enjoy.**

**-|XXX|-**

She looked at Tami and sighed. "You sure he's not coming?"

"Mary, I don't know! I haven't talked to him since yesterday. At that stage, he wasn't coming."

"But he's not here with you?" she asked hopelessly.

"Obviously not," Tami said, sounding a little frustrated. "He comes to every concert Mary, is it really such a sin that he's missing one?" She actually sounded angry. Mary couldn't remember a time when she'd been like this.

And just like that, Mary was angry too. "He told me this was important to him! I'm only dancing here because of him, and he's not even here!" She took a few deep breaths, but she'd breeched the dam now and couldn't hold back the flow of emotions. "You're here, aren't you? It's a lot harder for you to get here than it is for him, but you're here!" 

"He comes to every show!" Tami repeated, rushing to keep up with Mary as she stomped down the hallway angrily. Bursting through her dressing room door fiercely brought her suddenly into what could have been a very extensive rose garden. There were bouquets and vases of red and white roses covering every inch of the room. Until she made her way through them to her mirror. A note in Joey's handwriting was stuck to it. Her anger all but forgotten, she tore it off the mirror and drank in every word hungrily.

_Mary,_

_Good luck tonight. There'll be a surprise waiting for you after the show. I love you. Bet you'll be brilliant and kick a ton of ass._

_xox_

_JP_

She sighed dreamily and turned around. "Tami, what's this surprise about?"

"Don't look at me, I've no idea," Tami said, holding her hand out for the note. Mary gave it to her and looked around once more.

"Tami, these are all long-stemmed." She leant over and smelled a bouquet of red roses. "This would have cost him a fortune."

"Well, apparently he thinks you're worth it. And he can afford it." Tami smiled. "Still mad?"

"No," Mary said dazedly. Tami laughed.

"Snap out of it girl! You have a show to do in an hour! You have to get ready." Tami put her hands on Mary's shoulders. "Just take a few deep breaths. You'll be fine." She hugged her friend quickly. "Good luck." And she was out of there like a shot.

Mary sat in front of her mirror and looked at herself for a minute, taking a few deep breaths. Once she'd calmed down she began to get ready for her performance.

**-|xxx|-**

Forty-five minutes later she was ready and pacing backstage when her phone rang. She jumped a mile high at the sound of New Classic coming from the device, but smiled and flipped it open when she got a hold of herself.

"Hello?" she said, though she knew exactly who it was.

"Hey Mary. It's me."

"Who?" she teased, with a smile on her face. The person on the other end laughed.

"It's Joey. Your boyfriend, remember?" he said, emphasising his name. Mary laughed, hearing the smile in his voice.

"Hey," she began, but he interrupted her.

"Don't thank me yet. Wait till you get your surprise after the show. I just wanted to say good luck and I love you. Break a leg. Not literally. Don't actually break your leg. Just…"

She laughed again. "Joey, I get it. And I'm excited to see what this big surprise is all about."

She could hear his smile as he replied. "Yeah, well, I'm excited about it too. I hope you like it. I'm really sorry I couldn't be there tonight."

"No, it's ok. I understand. Hey, where are you? I can hear a lot of talking in the background. I thought you were supposed to be recording."

"Oh, yeah, I just went out to get some coffee. From Starbucks. Just walking back to the studio now."

"Oh, right. Well, enjoy your coffee," Mary replied happily.

"I will. I love you so much. Be amazing." She could hear the smile in his voice again.

"I love you too. I'd better go," she said, eyeing her instructor flying through the backstage area towards her.

"Yeah, ok. Me too. Love you." They hung up synonymously just as Mary's instructor flew past.

"Mary, what are you doing? In the wings, now!" Mary smiled and rushed off to the wings, preparing herself for the performance. It'd be weird, not having Joey there for once, but Tami was right. He was there for every performance. She could afford to cut him some slack. Right now, she needed to concentrate on dancing.

**-|xxx|-**

Mary walked into the wings, sweating and taking deep breaths, with her fellow dances whooping and cheering behind her. She had a huge smile on her face: the performance had gone perfectly. Her only regret: that Joey hadn't been there to see her dance better than she ever had before.

She took a couple swigs of water from a bottle waiting for her in the wings, calming herself before she found out about this big surprise of Joey's. She was at a loss as to what it might be; every possibility had presented itself to her in the last two hours. More flowers? A new dress? A trip somewhere? What could it possibly be?

As she walked slowly through the hallway, she thought over the last year of her and Joey's relationship. It'd been up and down; they'd had their problems, the foremost being that they hardly saw each other anymore. He was always busy doing interviews or recording; he'd been on tour for a month. She was in classes, working on assignments and practicing, endlessly practicing.

Now, she was nearly finished. Her high school education was drawing to a close. In just short of a month, she'd be performing for the last time on that stage, smiling as the crowd cheered her on, searching the audience for the one pair of eyes that had been her inspiration all through the last year.

And then what? She'd probably join a dance company and Joey and herself would see each other even less than they did now. And she could imagine how fun that would be. But they would deal. They _would_. They had to. She couldn't imagine her life without him anymore. So they'd just work harder. They'd get through. One day, they'd get married and they'd have a family. Picture perfect life, theirs would be. She just had this feeling, because it had to be like that.

She reached her dressing room door and took in a deep breath. She turned the knob and swung the door open, peeking in before taking a step into the room. At first, all she could see were the flowers, but a couple extra steps brought the path to her mirror in sight, along with Joey himself.

"Joey! Oh my god!" She ran the few steps to him and threw her arms around him. He spun her around a couple times, laughing, before placing her back on the ground and kissing her firmly on the mouth.

"I missed you, Mary." His eyes were sparkling as he said it, drinking in the sight of her in her costume.

"I missed you too! I'm so glad you're here!"

"You were amazing, by the way. Thought I should let you know. I saw the whole thing," he explained, still smiling. Mary was glowing, she was so happy.

"You're amazing." She hugged him again. "How are you even here?" she asked between the hug and kissing him again.

"Well, Dustin talked the recording studio into rescheduling today's session, and Tami booked the tickets…"

"She did know!" Mary was quick to accuse. Thinking through it however, she figured she liked it better this way.

"No, actually, Tami had no idea," Joey explained, sounding a little amused. "She was under the impression that I had cancelled on them, but my ticket was just in a different section of the plane. Dustin and I both agreed that keeping her in the dark would be the best way to hide it from you." He smiled and kissed her again.

"Yeah, but why hide it?" Mary was confused. He was coming, then he wasn't coming, and now he was here? What?

"Well, I really couldn't come back when I told you a week ago, but then Dustin and I arranged everything and it was all good. And I decided it would be fun to surprise you. Because of that," he said, indicating the smile that was slowly respreading across her face. She laughed and kissed him again, longer this time. He ran a finger through her hair, tugging on the curls. "And because I love you."

It was moments like these that she just knew. They'd be happy together for a very long time.

**-|XXX|-**

**A/N2: Yeah, I know. Sorry for the cheesy ending. Couldn't think of anything good, and I just wanted to finish it and post it. I know it's not particularly driven or anything, but I just wanted to write fluff. Who doesn't like some good fluff? Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Constructive criticism is welcome, and any other reviews as well. Thanks for reading.**


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